Organ

The Organ in St John the Baptist, Bathwick

The organ was originally built in 1871 by Bryceson of London with a detached electric console which was considered very advanced at that time. Various restorations and modifications were made by the local firm of Griffen & Stroud in 1894 and by Hope-Jones in 1902. Griffen & Stroud became a part of Duck, Son and Pinker in 1918 and undertook a major rebuild of the organ in 1923. DSP sold Griffen and Stroud to the Taunton firm Osmond in 1945. They carried out a restoration in 1955 but by the late 1980s the instrument was in a very poor condition and it was rebuilt in 1990 by Michael Farley of Budleigh Salterton.

The 1923 instrument had tubular pneumatic action and an attached, rocking-tablet console. The 1990 rebuild replaced this with electro-pneumatic action and a detached, draw-stop console. Visually the most impressive feature of the organ is the spectacular display of painted 16’ Violone pipes.

Because this instrument has not been much altered tonally over the years it remains an example of a type of tone which is now again of considerable interest. The rebuild in 1990 did introduce a few desirable mutations on the choir organ and developed the pedal organ but has left the fine great diapason chorus unchanged. The very loud and fiery Orchestral Trumpet created from the previous Tromba is an excellent solo stop yet blends well and adds great brilliance to the full organ.

There are some unusual features: the wealth and variety of 8’ stops on the great is unchallenged by any other instrument in the area but the absence of a 16’ reed on the pedal of such a large instrument is surprising. The present pedal provides an adequately weighty foundation but tonally a 16’ reed is desirable. The absence of an 8’ Gedact on the swell, which dates right back to 1871, is unfortunate but was often characteristic of Bryceson’s organs of that period – it would be useful both in its own right and also because it could support the rather thin-toned Open Diapason as the foundation of the swell flue work. On the other hand, there are excellent strings, flutes and reeds and the overall effect of the instrument is indisputably grand.

The present specification is as follows.

PedalSwell(balanced pedal)
1Acoustic Bass3222Echo Bourdon16
2Open Wood1623Open Diapason8
3Violone1624Salicional8
4Bourdon1625Vox Angelica8
5Lieblich Bourdon1626Gemshorn4
6Principal827Fifteenth2
7Bass Flute828Mixture [19.22]11
8Quint5 1/329Horn8
9Fifteenth430Oboe8
– Swell to Pedal31Clarion4
– Choir to Pedal32Tremulant
– Great to Pedal – Swell octave
– Swell to Pedal 4 – Swell suboctave
GreatChoir(unenclosed)
10Double Diapason1633Gedact8
11Large Open Diapason834Gamba8
12Small Open Diapason835Voix Celeste8
13Horn Diapason836Gemshorn4
14Rohr Gedact837Nazard2 2/3
15Claribel838Piccolo2
16Salicional839Tierce1 3/5
17Principal440Clarinet8
18Harmonic Flute441Orchestral Trumpet8
19Flageolet242Clarion (Orchestral)4
20Mixture [12.15]11 – Choir octave
21Orchestral Trumpet8 – Choir suboctave
– Swell to Great – Swell to Choir
– Choir to Great
43Great and Pedal
Combinations Coupled

St John's